


A Spooky Message Unmasked

by Casta_X



Category: Pokemon GO
Genre: F/M, Ghosts, Halloween, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27470836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Casta_X/pseuds/Casta_X
Summary: Is it just me or did Prof Willow sound hella suspect during this research?
Relationships: Professor Willow / Sierra
Kudos: 2





	A Spooky Message Unmasked

**Author's Note:**

> Perspective alternates between you and the inside of Prof Willow's trailer.

From the edge of your camp Willow has sensed your presence. He steps out of his trailer and strides across to meet you, a familiar smile across his face. You’ve never known him to lose hope, he always has that same smile when you stop by each week to add the data you collected to his research. That smile as evergreen as the pines in the foothills beneath the mountain despite everything that’s happened recently. Team GO Rocket was getting more aggressive as the months went by, and it took all of your resolve to save a shadow Mew Two from Giovanni’s clutches recently. If you never saw a GO Rocket grunt again it would be too soon.

“BOO! Haha, hey there, %PLAYERNAME%! Hope I didn’t scare you too much, I was just having a bit of fun during this spooky season. Say, since you’re here, I was wondering if you could help me. I’ve heard some reports of an unusual Pokémon appearing in a nearby forest. Ah—why aren’t I just going into the dark forest myself to find this Pokémon? Scared? No! Not at all! Y-you see, I would, but I’m busy here with some…um…research! Yes! Oh! I think I see Blanche over there near my lab and it looks like they need my help with evolving some Ghost-type Pokémon. Could you go on ahead and let me know what you find, %PLAYERNAME%? Thanks, and good luck!”

You couldn’t see Blanche anywhere in sight, but Willow rushed back to his trailer and slammed the door. You stared at the list of tasks he had shoved into your hand seconds before.  
\- Catch 30 Ghost-type  
\- Transfer 4 Pokémon  
\- Catch 34 Pokémon  
Alright, that shouldn’t take very long at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow breathed out slowly with his back still against the door. “Alright, that should keep them busy for a little while. I estimate we have up to half an hour before they’re back.” He returned his attention to the slim woman with the long brown hair, brown eyes, and purple lipstick in his bed. “Yes, it is that trainer that recently beat Giovanni in a Pokemon battle, and no I’m quite certain they’re no wiser to your presence.”

“Well then, how reassuring. Given how impressively quickly you were able to get your pants back on I think you’ll have no problem taking them off just as quickly - half an hour isn’t nearly as long as I’d like.” Sierra still had her sleeveless yellow top, but her jumpsuit and gloves had long been discarded on the floor, she reached a hand out to beckon her partner back between the sheets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took you just under 20 minutes to complete the task and stroll back into camp. There really were a surprising amount of ghost Pokemon in the forest - maybe Professor Willow really was scared? But these aren’t real ghosts, these are just Pokemon. And sure, the ‘ghosts’ of popular legend have attributes which were inspired by these ‘Mon, there’s no such thing as a real ‘ghost’. What a silly notion for a man of science. Having been distracted by your thoughts it took a while to notice that the Professor wasn’t in sight, and for that matter neither was Blanche. Maybe Blanche had been sent off on a similar task? But it was so uncharacteristic for the Professor to hand you an assignment like this and not stick around to review the results with you…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Shit, they’re back already!” Professor Willow hurriedly dressed while Sierra looked disappointed.

“Honestly Willow, why didn’t you give them a bigger task?”

“Bigger? I asked them to catch 34 Pokemon. And 30 of them had to be of one specific type! Do you know how uncommon ghost-type Pokemon are during the day?”

“Professor, we’ve been over this, they’re just as common during the day as they are at night, you’re confusing them with actual ghosts.”

“Sierra, ghosts aren’t real.”

“Maybe not for **you** , just wait until you've done enough horrible shit in your life." she mumbled before remembering that they weren't the only ones in the camp, "Get dressed faster! Ask them to catch like… 100 Pokemon this time.”

Having promptly straightened up his clothes, Willow reached into his pocket for his phone. “Hang on, I just need to pretend I’m on a call to cover the noise we just made.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow stepped out of the trailer, he appeared to be mid-conversation which may be why it took him so long to notice you were back. “Ah, Blanche, do you really think it’s Galarian form will be able to evolve—” He stopped mid-sentence as he noticed you in the camp, and put his hand over the receiver “Oh, glad to see you again %PLAYERNAME%—AH! What’s that sound?! Oh, it’s just a Yamask, looks like it’s looking at its mask and crying again. This was what you found in the forest? Ah, I see. Sorry, Trainer but it looks like you’re going to have to venture back into the woods for me. After cross-referencing eyewitness reports with some texts I found about Ghost-type Pokémon, turns out we are not looking for this particular Yamask, which was discovered in the Unova region—but another one entirely! This other one hails from the Galar region and looks almost like stone, not a mask. Sources say the slab absorbs the Yamask’s dark power. It appears Galarian Yamask might be a bit different than its Unovan counterpart. Unfortunately, I can’t come along with you this time either…uh…looks like Spark needs my help with some Strange Eggs he’s trying to hatch! See ya later and good luck!”

… What? Wasn’t he just on the phone with Blanche? Where is Spark anyway? You don’t see him around the camp. You stare at this new arbitrary list of tasks.  
\- Catch 10 Dark-type Pokémon  
\- Make 8 Nice Throws  
\- Catch 108 Pokémon  
It feels like a bit of a swindle to have to catch 108 Pokemon only to be compensated with 10 Pokeballs, it seems like the Professor wants a lot of Pokemon to assist with his research into… whatever this is about. As you head off you can’t help but think this is going to take ages.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“108?!” Sierra whispered incredulously, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes “I think I’ll have enough time for a shower and a cup of tea after this one.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Strangely, Dark-type Pokemon weren’t as readily available as Ghost-type, but by the time you finished collecting 108 Pokemon you’d easily racked up the requirements for the other two tasks. When you came back to camp the Professor was outside this time, but still on the phone.

“Yup, these Strange Eggs still seem to be hatching mostly Poison- and Dark-type Pokémon. This was an incredible use of time, I’m glad we got to confirm what we’ve already known—oh!” He put the phone down on the nearby table without hanging up or letting the other person, who you presumed was Spark, know that he had someone else to talk to. “Welcome back, %PLAYERNAME%, how are—EGAD! A Spiritomb! What a tricky Ghost-type Pokémon. I have worked with some Trainers to complete research on Spiritomb in previous years, you might’ve encountered and caught one before!” Your thoughts flashed back to the relatively mediocre Spiritomb you caught about a year ago, grateful that they were common this year and you’d since found a stronger one. “There seems to be a few more of them around than we’ve seen before, which is quite frightening given they’re quite mischievous and literally 108 spirits in one Pokémon, bound to a keystone to keep it in check. One can say that it’s bound to be a real spooky season this year! Haha, sorry Spiritomb—too soon? Anyway, sorry to do this to you again Trainer, but third times the charm, no? I’m sure this time will surely procure you an encounter with the illusive and elusive Galarian Yamask! I gotta go help Candela prep for the an upcoming Trainer Battle, but you go on ahead! Good luck, %PLAYERNAME%!”

He picked up the phone, put it in his pocket and returned to the trailer without resuming his earlier conversation or even apologising to – probably Spark? – whoever had been on the other end. You were beginning to suspect that maybe no-one had been, but for the life of you couldn’t figure out why he would feel the need to deceive you this way. You looked at the fresh list of tasks.  
\- Catch 40 Ghost-type Pokémon  
\- Make 9 Great Throws  
\- Catch 49 Pokémon  
Okay. Similar to the first if a bit bigger. Geez, the Professor is really preoccupied with ghosts right now, isn’t he? And **9** great throws? At least they aren’t in a row. This should take about half an hour if you hadn’t cleared the nearby forest of Pokemon, you might have to walk a bit further afield.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Was it in a row, or total?” enquired Sierra, cradling a cup of earl grey.

“Total, but that’s just to distract them from the fact that I’ve asked them to catch close to 200 Pokemon today, and they’re going to have to walk pretty far into the forest to find enough. That should give you the space and time you need to get out of here without being seen, but you have to leave soon.”

Sierra downed the cup, zipped up her jumpsuit, and stretched. “Well, it’s been a fine morning, but I suppose this is my window of opportunity if I’m going to get out of here without a further altercation with that punk. I know, I know you're fond of them. Anyway tell Candela to call me any time she wants to go on a double-date to walk the dogs. Lord knows Houndoom needs to get out for more exercise rather than just battles, and he misses Flareon.” She gave the professor a wink before stepping out of the trailer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time you returned the Pokemon professor was no longer alone in camp, he was chatting to a woman you recognise. “Poison-, Ghost-, Bug-, Dark-, and Fairy-type Pokémon—looks like you’re all set for your spooky Trainer Battle, Candela!” He turned to you “Oh, hi there %PLAYERNAME%! And hello Galarian Yamask! What a curious Pokémon this is. It definitely gives off a totally different energy than it’s Unovan form. I don’t know if you recall from earlier, but I was looking into evolving Pokémon with Blanche and it appears that Galarian Yamask is able to evolve into Runerigus! All you need is to collect some Yamask Candy and get to evolving! It evolves into a totally different Pokémon than its Unovan form, so this will be a very exciting addition to your Pokédex, I’m certain of it! Anyway, I’m so glad we got to go on this spooky adventure and discover a new Pokémon together! Hope you had a ghoulish good time and hope you have an extra spoOoOoOoOoOoky day!”

As you collect your berries, candy and stardust you can’t help but notice that he’s been acting more playful than usual today. You mutter your thanks for the rewards before heading back towards the path to the nearest town. How he keeps his spirits up when there are people out there the likes of Clint, Sierra, Arlo and Giovanni and their grunts is beyond you.


End file.
